I’m amazed and grateful at what seems like a real shift in American culture lately.

Just this past week, the most popular tv show in the country, American Idol, spent hours raising money to help the poor in Africa and those still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. They’ve already raised over $60 million. When you add to that Bono’s One campaign and the movement to end global poverty in our lifetime, it’s easy to see that doing something about poverty is becoming a movement.

A little over a week ago, on the 40^th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, I read some stories trying to break our iconic image of this great man. We usually leave him stuck in 1963, at the height of the civil rights movement and his popularity, telling the nation of his dream. But these articles reminded us that for the five years between the march on Washington and his assassination in 1968, Martin Luther King had moved on to a much more controversial subject–dealing with poverty and the inequities of wealth in our culture, seeing poverty as the root of social and civil inequality.

He was not a popular man when his life ended in Memphis on April 4, 1968.

I’m glad to see some shifts occurring in public sentiment about poverty.

I’m still a little skeptical about how deep this positive change really is. But as a Christian, I’m glad for it. And as a Christian, I believe it is important for us to have solid, biblical reasons for why it is important to be generous, why it is important to care for the poor and battle the systemic injustices that lead to poverty.

It’s not to make ourselves feel good. It isn’t because musicians and entertainers tell us it’s a good thing to do. And it’s not out of some condescending desire to do good to “those poor people”.

Over the last three weeks, we’ve focused on the heart of what it means to follow Jesus.

Easter, the cross, the resurrection, atonement–without these things, we have no faith. We have no hope. It is the center and the heart of our faith.

To keep that analogy today, as we talk about poverty and God’s response to it– if we’ve been talking about the heart, than this is the lungs. I feel like talking about poverty is getting to the lungs, the very breath of life with Christ.

I guess what’s become important to me over that last few decades is to figure out how to hold firmly to the center of our spiritual life, which is centered in Christ’s death and resurrection, while also recognizing that God’s call on our lives includes so much more. We want our heart to beat because of Jesus, and we want to live and breathe in line with the mission and kingdom of God.

The bible literally overflows with words about the poor. Rick Warren made news several years ago, after he became an almost household name for writing the Purpose Driven Life. He said,

I found…2,000 verses on the poor [in the bible]. How did I miss that? I went to Bible College, two seminaries, and I got a doctorate. How did I miss God’s compassion for the poor? I was not seeing all the purposes of God. The church is the body of Christ. The hands and feet have been amputated and we’re just a big mouth, known more for what we’re against.

I feel like God is on the move, making sure that more and more people see God’s compassion for the poor.

I try to remind myself that when I catch a tv preacher telling me that God wants me to prosper and have all the fine things in life.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve decided to follow a little bit in Rick Warren’s path. I used the bible program on my computer, and searched for all of the places the word “poor” appears. I won’t lie to you; I skimmed them, without delving deeply into the context of each passage. But many themes began to emerge, and caused me to look more deeply at a few places.

I also won’t lie to you about something else.

I’ve been nervous about this. It didn’t help when someone found out I was talking about poverty today, and started listing in an e-mail all of the reasons why no one wants to hear about it in church. J

The very mention of “the poor” and “poverty” can make us uncomfortable. Are we supposed to feel guilty? Are all the things I have a sign of sin?

I don’t find guilt to be a terribly helpful long-term motivator. I’m more interested in building a solid basis, one that is found in scripture.

The bible builds the foundation for helping the poor in this truth: God identifies with the poor.

Pr. 14:31 reminds us the poor, like every human being, are treasured creations of the Creator God: “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”

The connection is made stronger in Pr. 19:17: “Those who are kind to the poor lend to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.”

You can go to literally hundreds of other places in the bible and see that God loves and cares and protects the poor like a mother bear. There is no way to be a serious student of the bible and come to any other conclusion than God cares deeply for the poor, and asks us to use what we’ve been given to help them. “The righteous care about justice for the poor…the wicked have no such concern.” Pr. 29:7

Many places in the bible outline how the wealthy oppress the poor.

When I looked at the word “poor” in the bible, it was eye-opening to notice the verbs that often went alongside. The wealthy abuse, exploit, oppress, mock, ruin, and rule over the poor. God comes to the aid of the poor, because they have no one else to turn to.

But the poor don’t get a free pass.

God’s care for them doesn’t stop God from acknowledging that some are poor because of their own choices. “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth,” says Pr. 10:4. “Do not love sleep, or you will grow poor.” Pr. 20:13.

The bible teaches two things very clearly: Many who are wealthy live as they do because the poor are oppressed. And, some who live in poverty do so as a result of their own poor choices.

Listening to the rhetoric around poverty, it’s a mistake to make either of those truths an absolute. The wealthy do not always oppress the poor. And contrary to the American dream, which says anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, poverty is not always the result of an individual’s poor choices or lack of effort.

The bible avoids both of those extremes. It challenges each of us individually to live responsibly and not expect someone else to do our own work for us. And it challenges our systems, our politics, and our communities to face into the systemic issues of oppression and the injustices that make poverty a reality.

Here’s something else: God loves the poor, not poverty.

There isn’t anything romantic or spiritual about abject poverty. Last August, looking out a taxicab window at Mumbai, India, walking its crowded streets, I was paralyzed by mind-numbing poverty. It was different than anything I’d seen before.

In Bolivia and Peru, I had seen poverty of things. I had seen huts and shacks and a lifestyle so much more simple than here in the U.S. But in Bolivia and Peru, even though many don’t have a lot of things, most have enough food.

In Mumbai, and throughout India, I was overwhelmed by millions of people without enough to eat. On a macro level, I saw no hope in India. Looking at thousands of people living on the sides of roads under ragged tarps, it was impossible to believe that anything about that kind of poverty was good. God loves each and every one of those people, and knows them by name…but God does not love poverty.

On a micro level, I did see hope.

I saw the difference Arun and Shobha Massey and their fellow workers were making, educating, evangelizing, planting churches, distributing food and clothing to the poorest of the poor. I saw Jesus followers loving the poor and making a difference.

You could give me billions of dollars and the powers of a dictator in India, and I’m not sure I could do much about the macro level of poverty there. But I saw, on the micro level, on the grassroots level, people living like Jesus and making a difference. And that gives me hope.

On the macro level, it is tough to have hope that poverty truly can be ended in the world.

The bible says as much. I’ve heard people quote Jesus, when he said, “The poor you will always have with you” in Mark 14 and other places. I’ve heard people use that macro picture as an excuse to not do anything on the micro level to help the poor.

Jesus, if you read the whole verse, made a completely different point. He said, “You will always have the poor with you, and you can do something for them anytime you want.” Jesus is basically quoting Deuteronomy 15: 11. “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be open-handed toward those of your people who are poor and needy in your land.”

The overwhelming and persistent nature of poverty ought to move us to open-handed helping, not despair or excuses.

Perhaps the clearest word in the bible on this matter comes in 1 Tim. 6: 17-19.

These are Paul’s instructions to a young pastor, telling him how he ought to speak to the people in his church. If nothing else, these words ought to give me guidance as a pastor on this topic today:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share^. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

I never get to command anybody! This is cool!

These are strong words, but they are so helpful. The reality is, the salaries we make, the investments and insurance we have…so many things keep us from placing our hope in God. We really have the mistaken belief that we are taking care of ourselves by our hard work, instead of by the provision of God.

It’s a lie!

It’s a lie that is broken as soon as illness or layoffs or a hurricane or a recession hit. Don’t put your hope in your financial planning! Everything we have is from God, and everything we have actually is God’s. We, the bible says, are just taking care of it for him as he intends.

Why are we commanded to do good, to be generous, and willing to share?

Because everything we have is God’s, and we’re to use it as God desires. God’s love and heart and mother bear protection are with the poor. Our love and actions and money and time are intended and designed to follow God’s desires.

THIS is why we give, why we channel our resources to people here in Newberg and around the world who are stuck in poverty.

I’ve gone too long this morning to do more than just touch on the outlines of ideas, but I do at least want to touch on some. Direct giving is needed and possible, and NFC is connected with India, and with Love INC here in Newberg. And for the poor right here in our congregation, we have the Compassionate Care fund. Many designate their checks to Compassionate Care, and that money goes to help people in our church with rent, utilities, food, counseling, all kinds of things they could not otherwise afford. We don’t always know who is in need, so if you are, please don’t be afraid to ask one of the pastors! Your brothers and sisters are giving to help.

Frankly, though, we need more than just giving. We need to deal with some of the systemic issues.

That’s why NFC is exploring a connection with Agros, a Christian organization that connects churches in the States with communities in the two-thirds world, helping them break the cycle of poverty by owning their own land and creating self-sustaining communities. Talk with Matt and Nicole Cummings about this amazing ministry.

And I wonder…more than just giving, where are the business people who will give their lives to improving access to money and capital and banking for the poor here in the U.S? We need to break the hold that these check cashing and title loan companies have on the poor with their obscene interest charges, the predatory lending that keeps the poor stuck.

Where are the developers who are willing to make less profit than they could, in order to build affordable housing here in Newberg? We are a small enough community that one or two committed Christian developers could make more of a difference than all the regulations and governmental incentives we could come up with.

I want to challenge us this morning not to just do a nice thing for the poor.

I want to challenge us to live and breathe God’s desire because we are saved and reconciled by Jesus. How will you use what God has given you…your money, your possessions, AND your giftedness? Let Paul’s words to Timothy challenge your thinking today and into the future:

“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”